The invention relates generally to hand-held power tools. More specifically, the invention relates to hand-held power tools having at least one light emitting diode.
Hand-held power tools, such as hand-held power cutting tools, generally include a housing and an electric motor contained within the housing. The motor is configured to move a tool bit or other cutting accessory at high speeds to form cuts in a workpiece (e.g., a piece of wood, etc.). For example, a rotary cutting tool is a hand-held power tool that includes an electric motor that rotates a tool bit at high speeds. One type of tool bit that may be used with a rotary cutting tool is a helical or spiral cutting tool bit that includes a sharp cutting edge wrapped in a helix around the axis of the bit.
Hand-held power cutting tools are used to remove material from a workpiece, for example, by forming cuts in the workpiece. In the above example of a rotary cutting tool having a rotating helical cutting tool bit, the tool bit is moved through the workpiece in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the bit to remove material from the workpiece.
Precise control of a cut being made by a hand-held power cutting tool requires that the user of the tool have good visibility of the workpiece at the point of the cut. Such visibility can be reduced by a build-up of cutting debris (e.g., sawdust) and poor lighting at the point of the cut. Some power tools employ vacuum systems connected to the tool to remove cutting debris. However, the use of such a vacuum system often makes use of the tool more cumbersome. Proper lighting at the point of a cut can be a problem, both in generally poorly lighted construction environments and, more generally, in any environment where the operator of the tool and the tool itself cast a shadow over the workpiece.
There is thus a need for a hand-held power tool that allows increased visibility at the point of a cut made in a workpiece. There is also a need for a hand-held power tool that includes one or more light emitting diodes for directing light away from the housing of the hand-held power tool. There is also a need for a hand-held power tool that includes one or more light emitting diodes arranged at angles to the axis of the hand-held power tool to provide an overlapping light beam at the point of cut in a workpiece.
It would be desirable to provide a hand-held power tool that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.